The Problems with Asking Out the Grey-Eyed Girl
by kennerdoodle
Summary: Annabeth still lives in San Francisco, and someone has his eye on her. Leads in to Percabeth. This is an AU, OOC one-shot, but I'm open to ideas. Takes place after the Titan War, no Heroes of Olympus.


**Disclaimer: I don't own PJO **

**This is an AU fanfic, Annabeth and Percy OOC. What would Annabeth's life be like if she was still living in San Francisco? I resurrected a few characters in passing mention, because I'm the author and I can do that. There was no Heroes of Olympus or the Prophecy of Seven. **

Damion POV:

California. The sunshine state. There was something about the constant rays and warm breezes that made me love waking up in the morning.

That sounded way too poetic for me. I'm just trying to say I love San Francisco. Why is that so hard?

"Damion! School's in an hour!" My mum yelled at me from downstairs. I hustled around my room, throwing on a shirt and brushing my teeth. It's Friday, finally. I've been stretching this out all week, waiting for the right time. My teachers say I procrastinate with my school work, but that's nothing compared to how long I've been putting out asking one of my friends out on a date.

We usually walked to school together, so I pecked my mum on the cheek and rushed out the door. Within minutes, I was approaching her house. She lived there with her father and step-mother, as well as what she liked to call "the little maniacs", otherwise known as her half-brothers, Matthew and Bobby. I've never liked kids, but they were pretty cool.

I waited on the sidewalk for her to leave. Her bag was slung over her shoulder as she gave her brothers a hug. That was strange – it's not that she didn't love them, but she never showed affection like that.

"See you later, guys! Be good!" She called to them. They made kissy-faces at her before running back inside. She turned and rolled her eyes at me. "Little maniacs."

"Morning, Annabeth." She smiled in return, her honey-blond hair pulled up in a ponytail. "Finally, Friday, the week's been so long!" I said in a desperate attempt to start a conversation. I was tempted to ask about her brother's faces. Maybe they thought there was something between us?

Her stormy grey eyes shone happily. "Yeah, thank gods," She was always saying that – gods. I never bothered to ask her about it. "This week has gone by sooo slow." She said, emphasizing dramatically. She looked almost as giddy as she did the day before winter break. She looked so pretty, her skin glowing in the morning light.

Annabeth seemed lost in her own world as we walked to school. I didn't really take it personally. She tended to fall out of things, like she was thinking about way too much at once. She tugged on her beaded necklace absent-mindedly. She did that a lot now. Before last winter, she had the beads and a college ring on the cord, but now there was an added seashell. It was small and blue, and looked very delicate. When I asked her where she got it, she looked a little dreamy.

"Oh, it was a Christmas present."

We neared the school where are friends were already situated in our group outside the main doors. Chrystal waved cheerfully at us, beckoning us over.

"We were just talking about the next soccer game. When is it again?" She asked me. I was the co-captain of the team, along with Chuck, my best friend. Our team was one of the best in the league, and the final game was approaching.

"Sunday, I think. They keep changing it because of damn weather forecasts." I replied. "Are you coming?" I asked her. Chrystal smiled back.

"Of course!" I saw her glance at Chuck, and I met Annabeth's eyes. She grinned back at me. It was obvious that Chrystal had a thing for Chuck, and I had seen him stealing glances at her. Annabeth would watch them critically.

"My friend Silena would love this." Annabeth said quietly, as if she was just talking to herself.

"Who?" I questioned. I'd never heard of Silena before. Annabeth sighed.

"She's a friend from camp. She's all over cute couples." We never really talked about things outside of school, but it was common knowledge among our group that Annabeth would leave for some camp across the country ever summer. She didn't really talk about it much, and rarely brought it up in conversation.

The bell finally rang after the long chatter that Annabeth and I listened in on. She didn't seem like she was all that in to talking about regular stuff today. There was definitely something on her mind, but I tried to ignore it. This was going to be a big day, and I did not want to wreck it.

Mt first approach was asking about the soccer game. "Hey, Annabeth!" I called out to her. She was walking down to her advanced calculus class, textbooks in hand. Another thing Annabeth really has going for her is her brains. Don't let the California blond hair fool you – she is a genius.

She turned at looked at me, smiling slightly. "Yeah?"

"Are you coming to the soccer game?" She bit her lip, pausing before answering.

"I'm not sure, Damion. I'll get back to you on that." After she turned around to get to class, I felt kind of deflated. Why would she not come to the game? It was the final! She had to be there!

So, approach number two: ask her what she's doing this weekend.

Lunch couldn't come fast enough. For the first three periods, I only caught glances of her in the halls, her ponytail swishing behind her as she looked rather distant. We didn't have a class together until Advanced Greek, the last subject of the day. You wouldn't think that's a subject, but surprisingly, a lot of students are interested in ancient Greece.

At lunch, she sat in her usual place at our table, but slightly backed up. She didn't really talk much, and kept glancing at the clocks for the time. She kept fingering the seashell as she ate.

"Oh, Annabeth, you should've been there, it was classic…" Chrystal went on to tell Annabeth about Juliet Mason falling asleep during Standard Greek. Annabeth laughed on cue and looked intrigued in the story, but I could tell her mind was much farther away from the chatter. Finally, there was enough lull in the conversation around her that I could lean forwards.

"Hey, Annabeth," She smiled at me. God, I loved that smile.

"Yeah?"

I took a deep breath. "I was wondering if"- at that moment, the bell very rudely rung, stopping me from finished my sentence.

"Gotta go, Damion. Mrs. Stanford will kill me if I'm late to English. Talk later, okay?" She said, already grabbing her things. I sighed, slowly picking up my books. I still had Greek to ask her.

The bell for last period sounded, and I made my way to Annabeth's locker so I could "just happen" to run into her on the way to class.

"Oh, hey!" She said, giving me her dazzling smile. A curl of hair had fallen out of her ponytail and was tickling her face. Every fiber of my being wanted to do what guys always did in those sappy romance movies – slowly sweep it behind her ear, staring into each-other's eyes… I've been sitting around my mum's soap operas for way too long. The curl bounced as we turned and headed to class. She was still playing with her necklace.

"Are you nervous or something, Annabeth? You keep pulling your necklace." I came to realize ages ago that she usually did that before exams or other high-pressured situations, like the last day of school or before her last track meet.

"Hmm? Sorry, Damion, I just have so much on my mind!" A small smile was playing on her lips as we sat down in class. The teacher had projected a new picture onto the blackboard. Annabeth looked highly amused by it, biting her lip like she was holding back a laugh.

"Now, the myth of Circe is one not many people are familiar with. Can anyone give me anything they may know?" The teacher looked amused, like he knew no one knew who the hell Circe was. Annabeth, however, raised her hand. "Yes, Miss Chase?" He asked, an eyebrow raised.

"Circe was famous for developing potions and using witchcraft. She turned her enemies, particularly men, into animals, and some believe she was the daughter of Hecate, the goddess of magic." Annabeth said, still looking highly amused. The teacher looked taken aback.

"Um, correct, yes," He said, flustered. "So, to go into further detail…" Annabeth had already lost interest. I watched her as she started to doodle in her notebook. She had been doodling more and more often recently, and she wasn't too bad, either.

Right now, she was outlining a sketch of the Empire State building.

"That's pretty good," I complimented quietly, pointing at the sketch. She blushed slightly.

"Oh, this is nothing. Rachel is so much better." She said, smiling to herself. I assumed Rachel was another friend from "camp". Usually, anytime she mentioned a name I didn't recognize, it was "a friend from camp".

Eventually, the teacher left us to read over a few pages in the textbook. Everyone turned to their friends and started chatting. I decided to take my opportunity.

"Hey, Annabeth, I'm still not quite understanding this whole 'Circe' thing. Do you think you could tutor me or something tomorrow?" I was relieved that she was still leaning over her notebook, because I felt a blush leak into my cheeks.

"Oh, um," She stopped drawing and looked at me. "I'm not sure, Damion. Maybe Kelly would be better – I have some plans lined up."

"Maybe you could, cancel a couple, to squeeze me in?" I flinched at how petty that sounded.

She sighed. "I'm really sorry, Damion. I would love to help you out," My heartbeat quickened slightly at 'love', "but I can't cancel. Like I said, though, Kelly really knows her stuff."

I wondered if Annabeth knew I liked her, or was just oblivious to it. She was smart, and could read people really well. I had a bad feeling she knew what I thought about her, and was skirting around it.

"Well, maybe we could hang out after school?" She bit her lip again.

"I can't. Really, really busy."

I tried not to let my frustration and disappointment show. The bell rang, and we both stood. Annabeth was looking very distant, and started to walk away quickly. I caught up with her before she could completely leave my sight. "Well, I'll walk you home, anyway."

She didn't look at me, but craned her neck to see the front door. I matched her pace as she skirted through the flow of students. "I have a ride, actually. Thanks anyway!" She wasn't looking at me anymore, though.

Instead, she started to jog forward, obviously seeing something I didn't. There was a crowd of students around the parking lot, heading to their cars. One kid was leaning against a lamp post, with messy black hair and a worn orange t-shirt. There was writing on it, but it had long since faded.

I followed Annabeth, but stopped short. She had run into the dude's arms, pulling him into a hug.

"Hey, Wise Girl," He said, smiling down at her. I saw her face light up into a grin like I had never seen before. "Seaweed Brain." She replied before pulling him down into a kiss.

A kiss? No. That's not right at all.

"It's been forever, Annabeth!" He said when they broke apart. She laughed.

"We only talked like, three days ago." He rolled his eyes.

"Yeah. Talked. Not that same as this." He said, smiling before leaning down to kiss her cheek. I noticed the guy had a similar necklace to Annabeth's. He glanced up and seemed to just have noticed me. A confused expression appeared on his face, like he didn't understand why I was standing there, watching them. I didn't really know why I was, either. It was kind of just torture, to watch the girl of your dreams kiss a guy you've never seen before.

"How did you survive the flight here?" Annabeth laughed, obviously not noticing me yet. The dude looked back at her and winked.

"I don't do 'flying', Wise Girl. Mrs. O'Leary helped me out." She laughed.

"Oh, yeah, Seaweed Brain. That must've been subtle."

"Hey, I was careful!" He said in mock defense. "I didn't even need Nico's help." He said with pride. She laughed again.

"Where is she, anyway?" Annabeth asked, her eyes examining the car park.

"Not here. I got her to just roam free for a while. Come to think of it, she's probably back at camp already. Beckendorf was forging her a new bone before I took her."

Back at camp? So was this guy a "friend from camp", too? Just how many other people did Annabeth know?

"How's camp going, anyway?" What, did this guy live at the camp?

He shrugged, pushing the stray curl behind her ear like I was so itching to do earlier. "Basically the same old stuff. I check in on the weekends every once in a while, before my mum decides I have too much homework piled up." He frowned for a second. "The Stoll's T. your cabin, by the way."

Annabeth looked furious. "That's it. You're taking me to camp right now, Seaweed Brain! When I get my hands on them…" He laughed and kissed her again.

"There's my Wise Girl."

The crowd of students was slowly thinning. Soon, it would just be me staring at the pair. The dude looked at me quizzically again. "Um, hey?" He said questioningly. Annabeth turned around and smiled at me.

"Hey, Damion. Percy, this is my friend Damion. Damion, this is Percy, my boyfriend." Percy grinned and held out a hand for me to shake. I felt like a robot, going through the motions but not actually taking them in. Suddenly, a loud, swerving truck rolled into the parking lot. The two grinned at each other. "Looks like she was paying attention to us." Annabeth said happily. The truck stopped in front of them, the engine slowly calming down to a purr. I didn't catch the driver – the windows were pretty dirty and blacked out.

All of a sudden, I was angry. I wanted to make this Percy guy feel the same way I do, and I don't want Annabeth to forget about me.

"So, can you still tutor me on Circe? Sometime next week?" I glanced at Percy as I spoke to Annabeth, waiting to see how he'd react. I was very surprised when he started to laugh.

"Annabeth here is a genius on all that stuff." Percy said fondly. That only infuriated me more. "I still get weird lettuce cravings thanks to her." Annabeth laughed again.

"And I can never look at guinea pigs the same way again." They both laughed loudly at that. She touched a bead on his necklace – the one with the weird gold square. "That was a good summer."

The engine of the car revved loudly. Percy rolled his eyes. "Someone's getting impatient." He said, looking at the truck like he was telling it to calm down. "We should be going before…" Percy glanced at me, "Before our ride ditches us."

"Sounds good," Annabeth agreed, looking at the truck. "Where did you, um…" She glanced at me, too. Percy seemed to know what she was saying though.

"In the park. It was pretty… secluded. We should be good, if we skip rush hour." Annabeth nodded, and they both started to walk away from the truck. It followed them, driving around dangerously.

"Sorry about missing the game, Damion! See you sometime next week!" She called back to me, smiling. Percy waved, too, and with that, they started to run downtown towards the park, the truck still swerving around them. I wondered for a second as to why they didn't simply get in the truck and drive to the park, but the entre situation was already weird enough.

If only I had gone to that camp… then Annabeth could be mine. I started to walk home, kicking stones sadly.

Meanwhile, unbeknown to Damion, the girl he loved and Percy Jackson were laughing as they followed Percy's pet hellhound down the streets of San Francisco.

**So, what did you think? Please R&R, and I'm curious – should I go on with this? Or leave it as a one-shot? Thanks, hope you liked reading it as much as I liked writing it!**


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